Hotels, university offer free stays for foreigners stranded in Japan

The Kaname Inn Tatemachi, a hotel in the popular tourist spot of Kanazawa in central Japan's Ishikawa Prefecture, has even taken out bank loans totaling 80 million yen ($742,000) to help it provide assistance. Its operator said it hopes to «repay foreigners who have come to Japan for sightseeing.»

The hotel first provided a period of free lodging to a Dutch traveler in late March, and has since received an increasing number of inquiries from foreign tourists and students, Kyodo reports.

By mid-May, the hotel had been contacted by around 50 groups of foreigners, including Argentine pair German Colodro, 31, and Cecilia Citra, 29, who have been staying there since May 6.

After arriving in Japan last September with working holiday visas valid for one year, the two had been working in Nagano Prefecture, central Japan, until they were let go by their employer due to the coronavirus.

The Argentinians managed to find a new job at a resort in Okinawa, only to lose it as the pandemic saw tourist numbers plummet in the southern island prefecture.

Being unable to return home, the pair finally secured a place to stay at the Kanazawa hotel after the Argentinian Embassy passed on details about it.